“… God chose the foolish of the world to shame the wise; and God chose the weak of the world to shame the strong, and God chose the lowly and despised of the world, those who count for nothing, to reduce to nothing those that are something, so that no human being might boast before God.”
It is strange that as Christians we have to be constantly reminded that God can do extraordinary things through simple persons of faith; persons who are of no significance to this world. We owe our faith to a peasant teenager of Palestine, Mary, who opened her heart to God and through her openness to God she became the mother of God’s Son, Jesus. In this, Mary literally changed the course of human history. Unfortunately, we so exalt Mary in our Church today that we fail to remember that she was nobody. She was of absolutely no significance in the culture of her day, but because she was a young woman of faith, God was able to do great things in and through her. God uses the weak and the humble to humble the arrogant and the strong.
            Who was Rosa Parks? She was an African-American seamstress who one day chose not to comply with the laws of segregation that had defined the states of the former confederacy for almost 100 years. In her simple act of defiance, she helped galvanize a movement that brought an end to legal segregation in the south and forced the nation to confront individual and institutional racism. Who was Mahatma Gandhi? A simple man of deep faith, a Hindu, who challenged the injustices within the nation of India when that nation was ruled by the British. Through non-violent resistance and personal asceticism, Gandhi helped to free his nation from British rule. Throughout the world there remain daily examples of ordinary women and men of faith, persons who are of no significance to their society or to our world, whose faithfulness to the ways of God help to transform their society and our world.
            Remember, when you open your heart to God, God can transform our world through you!